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Malcolm X Biography

Born: May 19, 1925
Omaha, Nebraska
Died: February 21, 1965
New York, New York
African American civil rights leader

African American civil rights leader Malcolm X was a major
twentieth-century spokesman for black nationalism. Unlike many other
African American leaders of this time, who supported nonviolent methods,
Malcolm X believed in using more aggressive measures in the fight for
civil rights.

As a boy

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska.
His father, a Baptist minister, was an outspoken
follower of Marcus Garvey (1887–1940), the black nationalist
leader. (A nationalist is a person who promotes one nation's
culture and interests over all others.) Garvey supported a
"back-to-Africa" movement for African Americans. During
Malcolm's early years, his family moved several times because of
racism (dislike and poor treatment of people based on their race). They
moved from Omaha, Nebraska, after being threatened by the Ku Klux Klan,
a group that believes that white people are superior to all other races.
While living in an all-white neighborhood in Michigan their house was
burned. When Malcolm was six years old, his father was mysteriously
murdered. The black community was convinced that white people had
committed the crime. Three of Malcolm's four uncles were also
murdered by white people.

By the 1930s the nation had fallen into the Great Depression, a
decade-long period of great economic hardship. Work was scarce, and
Malcolm's family struggled. For a time his mother and her eight
children lived on public welfare. When his mother became mentally ill,
Malcolm was sent to a foster home. His mother remained in a mental
institution for about twenty-six years. The children were divided among
several families, and Malcolm lived in various state institutions and
boardinghouses. At thirteen Malcolm was charged with delinquency
(behaving in a way that is against the law) and was sent to a juvenile
detention home (a place where young people are held in custody). He
dropped out of school at the age of fifteen.

A criminal life

Living with his sister in Boston, Massachusetts, Malcolm worked as a
shoeshine boy, a busboy, and a waiter. In Boston Malcolm began visiting
the black ghetto (an area of a city where a minority lives) of Roxbury.
There, he was drawn to the neighborhood's street life. He began
wearing flashy clothing and jumped into a criminal life that included
gambling, selling drugs, and burglary.

In 1942 Malcolm moved to New York City's Harlem neighborhood
where he continued his unlawful lifestyle. He adapted well to the New
York City street life and rose quickly in the criminal world. Malcolm
became known as Detroit Red, for his red shock of hair. When the police
uncovered his criminal activities, Malcolm returned to Boston.

Reformed in prison

In 1946, at the age of twenty, Malcolm was sentenced to ten years in
prison for burglary. While in prison he began to transform his life. He
began reading books on history, philosophy, and religion. In prison his
brother Reginald visited him and told Malcolm about the Black Muslims.
The Black Muslims were an Islamic religious organization whose official
name was the Lost-Found Nation of Islam. The leader of the group was
Elijah Muhammad (1897–1975).

Malcolm began to study Muhammad's teachings and to practice the
religion faithfully. These teachings taught that the white man is evil
and doomed by Allah to destruction. Also, the teachings stressed that
the best course for black people is to separate themselves from Western,
white civilization—culturally, politically, physically, and
psychologically. The Black Muslim teachings also prohibited personal
habits such as smoking, drinking, and the eating of pork. In addition

Malcolm X.
Reproduced by permission of

AP/Wide World Photos

.

to finding his new religion while in prison, Malcolm began copying
words from the dictionary and developed the vocabulary that would help
him become a passionate and effective public speaker.

In 1952 Malcolm was released from prison, and he went to Chicago,
Illinois, to meet Elijah Muhammad. There he was accepted into the
movement and given the name of Malcolm X. Malcolm believed the
"X" represented his "slave" name that was
forever lost after being raised in a mainly white nation. Malcolm X
became assistant minister of the Detroit Mosque, or Muslim house of
worship. The following year he returned to Chicago to study personally
under Muhammad, and shortly thereafter was sent to organize a mosque in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1954 he went to lead the mosque in
Harlem.

The message of Malcolm X

Malcolm X soon became the most visible national spokesman for the Black
Muslims. As the voice of the organization he was a speech-writer, a
philosopher, and an inspiring speaker who was often quoted by the media.
His debating talents against white and black opponents helped spread the
movement's message.

At this time in the United States there was a major movement for racial
integration, or bringing the races together in peace. However, Malcolm X
and the Black Muslims were calling for racial separation. He believed
that the civil rights gains made in America amounted to almost nothing.
He criticized those African Americans who used nonviolent methods in
order to achieve integration. Malcolm X called for self-defense in the
face of white violence.

Malcolm X urged black people to give up the Christian religion. He
preached that the high crime rate in black communities was basically a
result of African Americans following the lifestyle of Western, white
society. During this period Malcolm X, following Elijah Muhammad, urged
black people not to participate in elections. These elections, the
movement believed, meant supporting the immoral (against the ideas of
right and wrong held by most people) political system of the United
States.

In 1957 Malcolm X met a young student nurse, Betty Jean Sanders
(1936–1997), in New York. She soon became a member of the
Black Muslims. They were married in 1958, and she became Betty Shabazz.
The couple eventually had six daughters.

Losing momentum

By 1959 the Black Muslim movement had moved into the national spotlight.
Racial tensions were reaching a boiling point, and white Americans grew
fearful of Malcolm X and his message of black supremacy (the belief that
the black race is better than all others). By 1960 Black Muslim
membership had grown to more than one hundred thousand.

As the movement reached its peak, some observers felt that there were
elements within the Black Muslim movement that wanted to oust Malcolm X,
or force him from office. There were rumors that he was planning to take
over leadership from Elijah Muhammad and that he wanted to make the
organization political. Others felt that the personal jealousy of some
Black Muslim leaders was a factor.

On December 1, 1963, Malcolm X stated that he saw President John F.
Kennedy's assassination as a case of "The chickens coming
home to roost." Soon afterward Elijah Muhammad suspended him and
ordered him not to speak for the movement for ninety days. On March 8,
1964, Malcolm X publicly announced that he was leaving the Nation of
Islam. He said he was starting two new organizations: the Muslim Mosque,
Inc., and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. He remained a
believer in the Islamic religion.

An international focus

During the next months Malcolm X made several trips to Africa and Europe
and one to Mecca, a city in Saudia Arabia that is the holiest city of
the Islamic religion. Based on these trips, he wrote that he no longer
believed that all white people were evil and that he had found the true
meaning of the Islamic religion. He changed his name to El-Hajj Malik
El-Shabazz.

Malcolm X announced that he planned to take the black struggle to an
international audience by putting black people's complaints
against the United States before the United Nations (UN). For this
purpose he sought aid from several African countries through the
Organization of Afro-American Unity. At the same time he stated that his
organizations were willing to work with other black organizations and
with progressive white groups in the United States. Together, these
organizations would work on voter registration, on black control of
community public institutions such as schools and the police, and on
other civil and political rights for black people.

Malcolm X began holding meetings in Harlem at which he discussed the
policies and programs of his new organizations. Then, on a Sunday
afternoon, February 21, 1965, as he began to address one such meeting,
Malcolm X was assassinated.

Since his death Malcolm X's influence on the political and social
thinking of African Americans has been enormous, and the literature
about him has only grown. Alex Haley's 1965 book,
The Autobiography of Malcolm X,
was written from several interviews conducted with Malcolm X before he
died. It is now considered a classic in African American literature.
Malcolm X Community College in Chicago, Malcolm X Liberation University
in Durham, North Carolina, and the Malcolm X Society are all named for
him.

For More Information

Breitman, George.
The Last Year of Malcolm X: The Evolution of a Revolutionary.
New York: Merit Publishers, 1967.

Brother Malcolm X did not believe in Black Superiority, he believed in empowering Black people. He believed that Black people were the original man ( which is true). Other than that the Bio was pretty accurate.

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